tirthankaras/tk-09-suvidhinatha.jpg · 1200×1600The only Tirthankara commonly known by two different names. Suvidhi means right observance — the queen became careful in ritual during the pregnancy. Pushpadanta, “flower-tooth”, comes from a longing for flowers. Both names are canonical and are used interchangeably.
Doctrinally he matters for another reason. Jain tradition holds that the teaching does not run unbroken across the twenty-four: in some intervals the fourfold community lapses and must be founded again. Suvidhinatha is credited with restoring the fourfold order — monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen — first established by Rishabha. The idea that the Jain path faded and was revived more than once is the tradition's own teaching.
